Auringonkukka
by stellar asterism
Summary: He thought it was just a simple gift. He was wrong.


Tino knew he should have checked the sender's address before opening the package. But no, he just _had_ to be careless and open it immediately, thinking that it was a harmless gift from someone. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Well, alright, the gift was quite harmless, but it was probably as troublesome as a blackmail letter. He really, really wanted to just ignore it, throw it away, but at the same time, he couldn't, since there was no telling what the sender would do if he found out that Tino had just thrown the gift away. Returning it was obviously out of the question, since the sender would definitely not be pleased about it and he risked having more terrorizing gifts sent his way.

Anyway, dilemma aside, he should hide these somewhere before Berwald—

"Wh's th't?"

The Finn could barely stop himself from letting out a very undignified squeak. Of all the times he could have picked to arrive...

Quickly, the smaller blond turned towards the other nation, a nervous grin on his face as he desperately tried to hide the gift behind him—though the attempt was quite futile, considering the size of said gift. "Ah, hi there, Su-san," he slowly said, stuttering slightly, "I thought you—"

"...S'nfl'wrs?"

Tino winced slightly, silent for a moment before reluctantly showing what he had been so desperate to hide. In his hands were several large sunflowers, their stems—which he was clutching onto with slightly trembling hands—still intact. Quietly, nervously, he watched as Berwald scrutinized the flowers, wondering how the taller nation would react to this. Would he be angry? Would he just shrug it off? Would he be worried, his protectiveness kicking in? Tino honestly didn't know, and that made him worry.

An awkward silence ensued for a couple of moments before the Swede finally spoke up. "Fr'm Iv'n?" he said, attention still fixed at the flowers, looking at them as if they were dangerous.

The smaller nation gulped. "Yes, they are," he began, making a mental note to learn how to read the slight shifts in Berwald's expression better, "I was a bit surprised when I got them, but—"

"I'll t'lk t' 'm." The taller blond turned towards the door, seemingly ready to leave once again.

"Ah, no, don't, you don't have to!" Tino quickly said, grabbing the sleeve of the other nation's shirt in an attempt to stop him from leaving, "Besides, I don't think he sent this as a threat or anything, so—"

"So y' w'nt t' keep 'm?" Berwald then asked, his gaze falling right onto the smaller blond's eyes.

"Oh, um..." The Finn faltered slightly under the other's intimidating eyes, though he managed to stop himself from looking away. "Well, not really, but it's kind of rude to just throw away a gift, you know, even if it's from him..."

"So y' w'nt t' keep 'm." The taller nation paused for a moment before giving a slight nod of approval and adding, "J'st don't put 'm 'n th' bedr'm."

Tino smiled and let out a soft chuckle. "I won't, I won't, don't worry," he calmly said, turning away from the Swede, sunflowers still in hand. Carefully, he set them on a nearby table before heading towards the cupboard on the other side of the living room, wondering if he had a vase big enough to hold those enormous flowers.

As he was browsing the contents of the small cupboard, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves around him, causing him to tense up reflexively. "Uh, yes?" he slowly asked, throwing a glance at the nation behind him, "What is it, Berwald?"

There was silence for a moment before the taller blond replied. "N'thin'," he murmured, eyes quickly scanning the open cupboard, glancing over the various vases that lined the bottom shelf.

"Oh, alright then," the Finn said, turning his attention back to the vases, thinking for a moment before finally making his choice. "Would you help me carry that one to the kitchen?" he asked, pointing at a simple wooden vase at the end of the row.

Berwald quietly stared at the rectangular vase for a moment before letting go of the smaller nation and moving towards the cupboard, taking the vase off the shelf. Silently, he wondered why Tino chose this one out of all the others; there were some that would have suited the flowers better, in his opinion—not that he was going to question the Finn's opinion.

"Just put it on the counter for now," Tino calmly said when the taller blond shot him an inquiring look, turning his attention back to the sunflowers once Berwald had left for the kitchen. Carefully, he took the flowers, finding it odd that something so beautiful could be so threatening when associated with a certain eastern neighbor of his.

Shrugging the thought off his mind, he started for the kitchen, sunflowers in hand, wondering where Berwald might have set the vase, or if he had filled it with some water.

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, however, he was immediately greeted by a look that made him step back and nearly drop the flowers he was holding.

"...Uh, Su-san?" the smaller nation nervously said, trying to muster up enough courage to at least look towards the other nation's direction, "Would you please stop looking at me like that? It's... unnerving."

There was a moment's silence before Berwald finally shifted his attention elsewhere, letting the Finn walk past him to put the flowers into the vase. Still, he didn't hide the fact that he constantly shot glances towards the smaller nation—or rather, what said nation was holding.

He wondered if it was possible to make those flowers wilt faster by just glaring at them.

...No, probably not. How silly of him.

At that, a hand was suddenly waved right in front of his face, snapping him out of his thoughts and turning his attention to the owner of said hand, who was standing right in front of him.

"Are you alright?" Tino asked, frowning slightly, "You're acting a bit weird."

"...'s n'thin'," he quickly replied, resisting the urge to glare at the sunflowers again.

"Well, if you say so..." the Finn said, clearly unconvinced by the other nation's words. He knew questioning wasn't going to get him anywhere, though, so he decided to just leave it at this.

He had just reached the kitchen door when he turned, meaning to ask the other nation something, though what he saw instantly made him forget his question. Berwald was, for lack of better explanation, glaring at the sunflowers, as if they were his rivals or enemies or something, and for a moment, Tino wondered why the taller blond was behaving like that.

Then it struck him.

_Is he jealous?_

His lips then slowly curved into a slight smile once he had gotten over his initial surprise, shaking his head at how childish the other nation was behaving.

Really, Berwald had such a cute way of getting jealous.


End file.
